1. The food product is made from only pure Halal ingredients with Halal processing aid or hidden ingredients and no natural or artificial flavors (except those in which alcohol was not used as solvent)).

2. The Halal food product is NOT Made with pork, pork-by-products, bacon, ham, lard, pig enzymes, any other meat-by-products, any other ingredients such as:

o Yeast Extract or Autolyzed Yeast made from brewerï yeast, a byproduct of beer making

o Torula Yeast grown on alcohol

o Nucleotides (building block of nucleic acid) are obtained from yeast cells grown on alcohol, used in Infant Milk formulas to help babies build a good immune, digestive system and decreased incident of diarrhea

o Vanilla Extract which must contain minimum of 35% Alcohol by US FDA regulation

o Wine Vinegar because there will leftover wine which is not converted to vinegar

o If ethyl alcohol is used as a solvent in natural or artificial flavors.

Confectionary Glaze or Resinous Glaze made with Shellac which is dissolve in alcohol and then alcohol is evaporated

Carrageenan, if ethyl alcohol or Isopropyl alcohol was used during processing for crystallization

Natural Vanilla or Natural Vanilla Flavor(because Alcohol is used in its extraction).

6. Genuine or orthodox Halal or Kosher certification was also used for assigning the Halal status for a food product, which meets the MCG Halal requirements. Because no Halal certified food products are available throughout USA except few such MCG Halal certified Seneca Foods Apple Chips and few from other organizations. The use of orthodox genuine Kosher certified food products as Halal is for temporary period only until the Halal symbol carrying food products are available in supermarkets throughout USA. Not all Kosher certified food products are Halal. The only one is Halal, which meets the MCG Halal requirements. It is based on Quran and ahadiths which allows good & pure Tayab foods of Ahlekitab and they are good for Muslims.

7. Only hand slaughter Zabiha meat from Halal animals by a Muslim is used as a criteria for MCG definition of Zabiha meat. Machine slaughtering for zabiha meat is not acceptable according to our ulema.

HALAL IF NO ALCOHOL IS USED IN FLAVORS:

The criteria for food products under this category is the same as the Halal category except the food products here are made natural or artificial flavors. The natural and artificial flavors used in these food products may or may not contain alcohol as a solvent but these flavors are not made with animal derived ingredients and they are genuine kosher certified. It is beyond our scope to find each food product in this category, which may or may not be made with alcohol containing flavors. We request our brothers and sisters to call food manufacturers to find out about alcohol in flavors. Ask them whether alcohol was used as a solvent in flavors. The alcohol is a hidden ingredient in flavor.

Please use this statement for question of alcohol in flavors:

" is ethanol or ethyl alcohol used as a solvent in flavor;
ethanol or ethyl alcohol is a hidden ingredient or processing
aid ingredient of a flavor, it will not appear in the
ingredients statement. The knowledge of presence or absence
of ethanol or ethyl alcohol in flavor is only known to your
QA or Technical service department because they have access
to the specification of flavors. In the specification of
flavor, your flavor supplier has written the name of
solvent or carrier used in that particular flavor.
So please request your QA or Technical service department to
find out whether ethanol or ethyl alcohol was used or not in
the flavor as a solvent".

Not Halal

The following food products are included in this category:

· The Haram food products that are made with pork-by-product ingredients and wine.

· The food products that are made with kosher gelatin and bear the kosher symbol K but did not meet the Islamic dietary requirements.

· The Haram food products that are made with pork gelatin and bear the kosher symbol K.

· The products made with ingredients derived from non-zabiha meat by- products.

· The products made from fat based ingredients without Halal or kosher certification and with no guarantee they meet the Islamic dietary requirements.

· The products that are made from natural and artificial flavors which are not Halal or Kosher certified with or without alcohol as a solvent.

· The products that are made with alcoholic fermentation and may contain 2-3 % alcohol such as naturally brewed soy sauce.

· The products that are made with human hair L- Cysteine with or without kosher certification.

· The products that are made with questionable ingredients and whose source are not verified as Halal.

· The products, which are kosher certified and bear kosher symbol but do not meet the Islamic dietary requirements.

· All machine slaughtered animals are considered as NOT HALAL by MCG , MCG's Ulema and 40 Islamic scholars from England.

The Muslim Consumer Group for Food Products is a non-profit and non-political organization, incorporated in 1993 as Halal foods educational and Halal certification organization for Muslims consumers and food industry. Muslim consumers in Canada are in great need to know the Halal status of food products in Canadian supermarkets. Alhumdulillah MCG is grateful to Allah Subhanahu Wa Taala for providing this service to Muslims in Canada. This web site will educate them about requirements for Halal foods. We are the only Halal certifying organization whose Halal certification is acceptable to every Muslim consumer because it is based on strict Islamic dietary requirements. Our Halal symbol H in triangle appears on many food products, and ingredients. We follow the Islamic dietary requirement of no added ethyl alcohol to food products such as in natural and artificial flavors, vanilla extract and alcohol containing products such as naturally brewed soy sauce. We bring complex food processing knowledge to Muslims and its impact on Islamic dietary requirements. Our main purpose is to help Canadian Muslims to bring only Halal food products to their homes and Masajid.

What we do

We educate Muslims consumers and food industry about Halal food products and Halal food ingredients through our two web sites. We answer question from Muslims regarding food products through e-mails and we have a toll free Halal Food Hot Line to answer question about Halal food products in supermarkets, food ingredients, Halal personal care products and Halal on the counter medicines.

We go to Masajid or Islamic center for Questions & Answers sessions. We participate questions/answers session on radio program.

We Halal certify non-meat food products and food ingredients for different food companies.

Recent Research on Food Products in 8 supermarkets of Toronto, Ontario area: In September 2012 Muslim Consumer Group has completed the research and collected the data of food products in 7 supermarkets of Toronto, Ontario area. The total products researched were 1857 in 8 different supermarkets excluding the meat and meat-by products and assign the following status: Halal, Halal if no alcohol is used in flavor, Not Halal The above status were assigned on the basis of Muslim Consumer Group's criteria as reported on this website. The 8 supermarkets researched in Toronto area are:

Costco Warehouse

Food Basic Supermarket

Fresh Co (Old Price Chopper)

Loblaws Supermarket

Metro Supermarket (Old Dominion)

No Frill Supermarkets

Real Canadian Superstore

Wal-Mart Super Center

IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT HALAL FOODS

Gelatin is a protein and it functions as a gelling agent. It is obtained from collagen which is derived from bones, skin from pork called Gelatin Type A. Gelatin is also obtained from collagen of beef bones and calf skin, it is called Gelatin Type B. Gelatin can be made from fish bones and it is considered as Halal. Fish gelatin cannot be labeled as gelatin but the word fish has to come before gelatin under ingredients statement. Fish gelatin is the only Halal gelatin available to food manufacturer and pharmaceutical companies in USA and Canada. Zabiha beef gelatin is not available commercially in USA and Canada. Type A gelatin is derived from acid treated tissues of pork. Type B gelatin is derived from alkali treated beef tissues. Gelatin gel strength is measured by means of a Bloom Gellometer and ranges from 50 to 300 Bloom. Gelatin is used in Ice cream, desserts, yogurts, in ham coating, confectionary and capsules of multivitamins, Omega fish oil, soft gel pain relievers and medicine capsules (please throughout the medicine capsules and consume the bitter medicine). MCG ulema do not consider non zabiha beef gelatin as Halal.

There are very few Islamic scholars and some liberal Rabbis consider pork gelatin as Halal or kosher because they think the original pork raw material has changed during gelatin processing.

This is not true because extensive studies have shown that amino acid content of white connective tissue whether from bone, skin, or tendons or from different species is very uniform and yields gelatins also having uniform amino acid composition ( East, J.E. 1955 " The amino acid composition of mammalian collagen and gelatin" Bio-Chem. J. 61, 589) .

Amino acids are the basic unit of gelatin protein. The above study showed that no changes happened to amino acid of pork collagen (structural protein) during pork gelatin processing. It means amino acids of pork collagen remained as is in pork gelatin.

This is not the case of Tabdeele Mahiya (A Sharia term). Pork gelatin is Haram and beef gelatin is not Halal.

NOT ALL KOSHER CERTIFIED FOOD PRODUCTS ARE HALAL, ONLY THOSE MEET HALAL REQUIREMENTS ARE HALAL

The Kosher Certified food products are not considered Halal if they contain one of the following ingredient (based on MCG Halal criteria):

(1) L-Cysteine made from human hair or chicken or duck feathers, (2) Wine, (3) Liquor, (4) Beer batter, (5) Rum flavor, (6) Ethyl Alcohol or ethanol or Alcohol as a main ingredient, (7) Cochineal or Carmine, (8) Naturally Brewed Soy Sauce (containing Wheat & Soy as ingredients), (9) Brewer’s Yeast or Brewer Yeast Extract from byproduct of beer making, (10) Nucleotides ( Torula yeast is the as source of Nucleotides but it is grown on Alcohol)), (11) Pectin ( A Mashbooh ingredient, Alcohol may be used during processing for crystization so it needs investigation), (12) Vanilla Extract, (13) Wine Vinegar, (14) Balsamic Vinegar, (15) Natural or Artificial Flavor (If hidden ethyl alcohol is used as a solvent then it is not Halal), (16) Confectionary Glaze or Resinous Glaze (Alcohol is used in both), (17) Torula Yeast grown on alcohol, (18) Carrageenan ( A Mashbooh ingredient, if ethyl alcohol or Ethanol or Alcohol is used during its processing then it is not Halal), (19) Natural Vanilla or Natural Vanilla Flavor(because Alcohol is used in its extraction), (20) Any grape wine by-product such grape skin powder, grape seed oil, grape seed extract, (21) Gelatin (22) Kosher Gelatin.

HOW TO PHRASE YOUR QUESTION ABOUT ALCOHOL IN FLAVOR OF A FOOD PRODUCT

The question about alcohol in flavor is a tricky one because it is a hidden ingredient of the flavor. If you ask alcohol question to non technical consumer department person of a food company, first they look at the ingredients list of the food product and will find no alcohol is mentioned. Then they will say we do not use alcohol in our products because they do not know the alcohol is a hidden ingredient of the flavor.We request Muslim consumers to use the following phrase when asking or writing the question to consumer department of any food company regarding the presence or absence of alcohol in the flavor of a food product.

" is alcohol used as a solvent in flavor; alcohol is a hidden ingredient or processing aid ingredient of a flavor, it will not appear in the ingredients statement. The knowledge of presence or absence of alcohol in flavor is only known to your QA or Technical service department because they have access to the specification of flavors. In the specification of flavor, your flavor supplier has written the name of solvent or carrier used in that particular flavor. So please request your QA or Technical service department to find out whether alcohol was used or not in the flavor as a solvent. The consumer department can not answer this question because they do not have access to specification of ingredients".

MCG'S HALAL CERTIFICATION PROCEDURE:

If your products pass the Halal requirements then signing the contract including number of inspection per year, record keeping, number of products to be Halal certified and service fees for Halal certification.